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Arius
Arius is a wealthy businessman who serves as the primary antagonist of Devil May Cry 2. Although he is the president of an international public corporation "Uroboros", he focuses his research into the black arts as a modern-day sorcerer, in an effort to raise the devil Argosax the Chaos from the demon world and use its power to become "an all-powerful immortal"Devil May Cry 2, Enemy File — Arius: "The great sorcerer who runs the international enterprise, Uroboros.". He came to Dumary Island in search of the legendary Arcana, the four mystical artifacts which would allow him to unseal Argosax. ''Devil May Cry 2'' Dante first learns of Arius when comes to Dumary Island at the request of Lucia, a devil hunter with demonic powers. Her mother Matier tells Dante that decades ago, Arius and his company Uroboros transformed their beloved homeland to a demonic nest under the facade of building a modern city and mining for ore, and asks Dante to deal with the sorcerer and his master. Lucia and Dante soon spot Arius flying away in his helicopter, and Lucia is the first to catch up to him at the helicopter landing pad on the off-shore oil rig. Arius comments that "the defect is back", and reveals that Lucia is not one of the Vie de Marli, but rather a defective Secretary demon: Matier merely found Lucia just before she was to be disposed of, and raised her as a warrior. Lucia shouts that he is lying and attacks Arius, but Arius merely cuts open her sleeves, revealing a "Χ" (chi) on her shoulder as proof of his claim. He demands that Lucia give him the Arcana, so that he can become immortal, and when Lucia refuses, he teleports her to a demonic nest in the Ruin. Dante arrives at the helicopter pad shortly afterward, but Arius merely summons Furiataurus to fight the devil hunter as he escapes on his helicopter. After finding the last of the Arcana, Lucia gives them to Dante to deliver to Matier, and sets off to the Uroboros headquarters to take down Arius. Disguised as a Secretary, she manages to make it to his office, but he is not deceived, and spitefully asks if she has come back to rejoin him. She attacks, but is unable to defeat Arius and is captured. Dante soon arrives to rescue Lucia, and seemingly hands over the Arcana. He attacks, and although he is unable to kill Arius, he is able to rescue Lucia and fly to safety using his Devil Trigger. Both of the devil hunters return to the building, using a magical portal to enter through the demon world, but by the time they arrive the sun has already eclipsed, and Arius has been able to start the summoning. However, the ritual backfires, as Dante had replaced the Arcana Medaglia with his own, mundane coin. This time, Dante is able to defeat Arius, and shoots him in the head at point-blank range. However, although the ritual was interrupted, it still opens a portal to the demon world, and Dante goes through to finish off the demon, Argosax, that Arius was attempting to summon. At the same time, Arius revives due to Argosax's influence, transformed into a mindless, tentacled demon named "Possessed Arius". Lucia fights him back, and he draws on the power of Argosax to mutate further into "Arius-Argosax". In the end, though, Lucia slays the monster, just as Dante finishes off Argosax and the rift closes. Personality and abilities Arius has a somewhat refined manner, dressing in expensive clothes and generally behaving with great composure. His most distinctive trait is his obsession with power. Although he is already a powerful sorcerer, as well as the president of an international enterprise, his ultimate goal is nothing less than to become a god. Arius's study of the dark arts has given him access to a multitude of powerful spells, such as magical barriers and teleportation, as well as the ability to summon or create various demons, such as Furiataurus or his own creations, the Secretaries. Despite his magical prowess, he also uses a personal revolver to fight his opponents. After being slain in the middle of his ritual for immortality, his body is revived through Argosax's powers, and begins merging with the great demon. His first form is still generally humanoid, and although it is clumsy and mindless, it is much stronger than his original form.Devil May Cry 2, Enemy File — Possessed Arius: "His humanity has already been lost, and now his appearance and behavior are becoming like those of the demons." His further tranformation takes on a chaotic appearance which symbolizes the chaos of the demon world, as his remaining soul becomes even blacker and more sinister.Devil May Cry 2, Enemy File — Arius-Argosax: "The chaotic appearances depict the chaotic demon world, and its spirit is as sinister as it gets." Background Arius was a third-century Christian priest who was deemed a heretic due to his assertion that Christ the Son was not eternal, and had not existed before he was begotten. The Magician is the first trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. On it is depicted youthful figure in the robe of a magician, his left hand pointing to the earth and his right is raised to the sky, holding the Wand. The other symbols of the Tarot suits also appear on the picture - Sword, Cup and Coin lay on a table before the Magician. About his waist is a serpent-cincture or girdle, the Ouroboros. The interpretation of this card in relation to Devil May Cry universe is very complex. Iconographic gesture of the Magician symbolizes divine immanence, the ability of the magician to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. As such, Arius's role was reversed: he wanted to open the gate between the Human world and the Demon world in order to "achieve absolute wisdom and transcend all". The Arcana, while having its own and very significant role in the Devil May Cry continuum, also symbolize the four classical elements - fire, earth, air and water. If we assume that Magician's right hand is also pointing to the fifth element, aether, we will see complete set of classical elements of medieval alchemy. Finally, the name of the evil public corporation Uroboros is the corruption of the spelling/or misspelling of the Ouroboros which is an ancient symbol depicting a dragon or serpent devouring its own tail, which generally symbolizes circularity or infinity, and is frequently used in alchemy which the international conglomerate and its CEO Arius are also characterized by because of their research and long-standing experience in magic and technology. As a whole, the Magician card signifies determination, initiative, manipulation and personal power - the qualities by which Arius is characterized by. Trivia *Arius seems very similar to the Bayonetta villain Father Balder. Both are wealthy, powerful sorcerers who used an international corporation as a cover up for experiments on supernatural bioweapons and sought the power of an ancient force to create their own ideal worlds (Balder sought the power of the goddess Jubileus while Arius sought to acquire the powers of Argosax). Also, both Balder and Arius were corrupted/killed by the very same entity that they sought to control in a gruesome twist of irony. *Arius appears to possess a slight Russian accent in his speech. *When Arius mutates into his second form, the appearance of his second form resembles that of William Birkin's final mutated form in Resident Evil when the G-Virus corrupted his body. *When Arius is shown using the tentacles to attack in his second form, the attack pattern seems to resemble the attack pattern of Wesker when the Ouroboros Virus took control of his arms. References